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MIT says 3,000 ride-sharing cars could replace all New York City taxis

Over 13,000 taxis roam the streets of New York City, but those gas-sucking, polluting vehicles could be replaced by ride-sharing cars, according to a new MIT study. Drawing on an innovative algorithm, researchers discovered 3,000 four-passenger cars could fulfill 98 percent of the city’s taxi demand, with passengers waiting around a mere 2.7 minutes for their ride. Less cars on the road would mean less traffic and less pollution, and MIT researchers even say drivers would make as much money as they do today.

Rus said in a statement, “Instead of transporting people one at a time, drivers could transport two to four people at once, results in fewer trips, in less time, to make the same amount of money. A system like this could allow drivers to work shorter shifts, while also creating less traffic, cleaner air, and shorter, less stressful commutes.”

Going a step further, just 2,000 10-person vehicles could fulfill 95 percent of taxi demand. MIT’s algorithm can also work to reroute cars, in real time, and proactively dispatch idle vehicles to high-demand locales, accelerating service by 20 percent, according to the researchers.

Rus said the system could be easily adapted for autonomous cars, as vehicles are rapidly rerouted to fulfill requests. She said, “To our knowledge, this is the first time that scientists have been able to experimentally quantify the trade-off between fleet size, capacity, waiting time, travel delay, and operational costs for a range of vehicles, from taxis to vans and shuttles.” The Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences recently published the team’s research.

One thought on “MIT says 3,000 ride-sharing cars could replace all New York City taxis”

Ride-sharing cars can obviously make up for the total number of taxis as a whole. However, there are also many pros and cons involving the ride-sharing environment. Passengers would obviously be concerned about safety issues, personal space, and so on. Not everything that is positive is a solution to the problems that we are facing currently and need to be considered thoroughly.

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MIT says 3,000 ride-sharing cars could replace all New York City taxis

New York City Taxis Full Width Tall

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MIT researchers found 3,000 ride-sharing cars could replace around 13,000 taxis in New York City.

New York City Cabs

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Average wait time for those ride-sharing vehicles would be a mere 2.7 minutes.